OPMAD was started by parents representing
six urban elementary schools, whose initial concern was the lack of
safe, supervised, meaningful activities available to children during
the after school hours. They were also concerned about the dwindling
dollars in the education budget, which denied their children access
to instruction and resources in such areas as computer skills, creative
and cultural arts, and life skill education. The concerns transformed
into a vision of community schools open to the whole family.
These parents,
with assistance from a community agency, developed an organization
that in two years grew to include nine schools. They established a
Board of Directors, by-laws, a Mission Statement, and started Parent
Steering Committees in each school. In July 1992, OPMAD was
officially born with funding from the Hartford
Foundation for Public Giving.
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